I agree with alot of what Arran has written over the last couple of posts.


I talk a lot of parents who push their children to be Doctors or Lawyers, or similar high paying jobs.  To be honest, I can't blame them for this; as a parent I want the best for my little one too.  But as a culture we do still need musicians, writers and artists.  We also need people who can do all the lower paying service jobs.  When I looked at emigrating to Canada some years ago, there was a joke in the various forums that taxi drivers had engineering degrees (or similar) because of the number of highly qualified immigrants and the limitations on some jobs locally.


Growing up in the 80's and 90's, my parents didn't really seem to take that much interest.  But I'm fairly sure they would of been equally proud of me whether I ended up stacking shelves in Tesco's or completing the degree I eventually did.  A couple of my friends have already planned for their children to graduate oxbridge and they are still only in primary schools!


That said, I'm kettle calling pot black here.  I'm considering the local grammar for my little one because I'm pretty sure he is capable of it.  I'm also pretty sure he wouldn't want the workload that goes with that! 


The other thing people might not have spotted; GCSE's have been getting more difficult over time (despite what some press may say).  I know someone who has children that have 10 years between the oldest and youngest.  The children took similar GCSE's and some common A Levels too (they have all graduated now).  They noticed that the workload in the GCSE's from the oldest to the youngest was significantly greater in some subjects.  Even this new Computing GCSE has got some content that I only saw in the first year of my engineering degree (although not covered to the same depth).

I agree with alot of what Arran has written over the last couple of posts.


I talk a lot of parents who push their children to be Doctors or Lawyers, or similar high paying jobs.  To be honest, I can't blame them for this; as a parent I want the best for my little one too.  But as a culture we do still need musicians, writers and artists.  We also need people who can do all the lower paying service jobs.  When I looked at emigrating to Canada some years ago, there was a joke in the various forums that taxi drivers had engineering degrees (or similar) because of the number of highly qualified immigrants and the limitations on some jobs locally.


Growing up in the 80's and 90's, my parents didn't really seem to take that much interest.  But I'm fairly sure they would of been equally proud of me whether I ended up stacking shelves in Tesco's or completing the degree I eventually did.  A couple of my friends have already planned for their children to graduate oxbridge and they are still only in primary schools!


That said, I'm kettle calling pot black here.  I'm considering the local grammar for my little one because I'm pretty sure he is capable of it.  I'm also pretty sure he wouldn't want the workload that goes with that! 


The other thing people might not have spotted; GCSE's have been getting more difficult over time (despite what some press may say).  I know someone who has children that have 10 years between the oldest and youngest.  The children took similar GCSE's and some common A Levels too (they have all graduated now).  They noticed that the workload in the GCSE's from the oldest to the youngest was significantly greater in some subjects.  Even this new Computing GCSE has got some content that I only saw in the first year of my engineering degree (although not covered to the same depth).